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The 35 Bands To See At 35 Denton.

Now that it's in its fifth year, it's pretty safe to say that, at this point, the 35 Denton festival isn't catching anyone by surprise.

By now, we can more or less expect that thousands of music fans will descend upon Denton over the course of the fest's Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night offerings in an attempt to catch 200-plus acts from across the country on more than a dozen stages around the Square.

But even the most eager and swift-of-foot festivalgoers won't be able to catch every act performing. Not even close. It just can''t be done. Not even if, as the fest's organizers have suggested, venues won't be as impossible to get into this year thanks to the the addition of “fast pass” tickets and a large, pop-up space called The Hive.

But there are definitely some bands you should see. With that in mind, we've once again compiled a list with the 35 acts you should definitely make an extra effort to catch this year.

Yeah, we know a few of them are going on at the same time. But, if we learned anything from last year's fest, it's that it always pays to have a backup plan.

Thursday
Quaker City Night Hawks
10:30 p.m. at Andy's
Over the past two years, this hard-rocking quartet has become the biggest band in Fort Worth based on the strength of their powerhouse live shows. As we've said many times previously on this site: Them fools sure can play.

Spooky Folk
10:30 p.m. at Dan's Silverleaf
There was a time when these onetime Denton favorites seemed to play nearly every single weekend. As of late, though, their performances have been few and far between. At this show, you're sure to be treated to a few cuts from the band's upcoming and highly anticipated sophomore LP, too.

Pinkish Black
10:30 p.m. at Hailey's
The best metal band in the North Texas doesn't need a guitar player — or even a third member for that matter — to create some of the biggest, hardest-hitting, walls of sound around. These, of course, are just some of the reasons Pitchfork named their debut album one of the best metal albums in the country last year.

Prince William
10:30 p.m. at The Hive
Denton's newest and biggest venue may not even exist next week. But, for now, why not break it in with one hell of a dance party? That's most certainly what this former Dallasite and Fade to Mind label head is sure to bring to The Hive tonight.

Power Trip
11:30 p.m. at Hailey's
If this local outfit is hardcore enough to illicit crowd-surfing during a Good Records in-store appearance, just imagine how crazy their fans get in actual venues.

Mind Spiders
11:30 p.m. Rubber Gloves
Mind Spiders frontman Mark Ryan is a just a bona fide, lo-fi, pop-punk songwriting genius. That's why he's so often sought out to produce pretty much every other likeminded act in the region — and why even those he doesn't work with try to bite his style. None are as strong as his own Mind Spiders group, though.

Jacuzzi Boys
12:30 a.m. at Rubber Gloves
These Miami-based garage-rock revivalists are equal parts sugar-glazed jangle-rockers and drunken party mongers. There's no doubting the revelry they'll provoke in a dimly-lit punk club like Gloves.

Friday
Fungi Girls
5 p.m. at Main Stage Two
These area lo-fi rockers started receiving attention from outlets like Pitchfork before they even finished high school. Now, the Cleburne ex-pats are all growns up; they've graduated from punk clubs to festival main stages.

Roky Erickson
7 p.m. at Main Stage Two
There are big festival headlining musicians, and then there are legends. Texas psych-rock pioneer Roky Erickson falls squarely in the latter camp.

Sleep
8 p.m. at Main Stage Two
The quote-unquote ultimate stoner rock band are the perfect act to bridge the gap between Roky Erickson's psychedelic lean and the string of heavy, reverb-drenched shoegaze acts to follow at nearby Rubber Gloves.

True Widow
11:30 p.m. at Rubber Gloves
Thanks to an especially heavy, churning brand of stonegaze and trading, male-and-female vocals, this local trio find themselves on the cusp of national stardom thanks to their recent signing to Relapse Records and their soon-to-be-released LP.

Wayne Hancock
11:30 p.m. at Dan's Silverleaf
Wayne “The Train” Hancock's blend of western swing and old-time honky tonk are the closest thing you'll find to the sounds of Hank Williams Sr. these days — especially now that Hank III's begun to lean so heavily on his punk side.

Antwon
12:30 a.m. at Hailey's
Bay Area rapper Antwon mixes '90s nostalgia, a healthy knowledge of old school hip-hop, and Tumblr-chic — all of which he uses to deliver rhymes about sex in his extraordinarily Biggie-esque flow. In other words? He's a hipster's wet dream.

Man Man
12:30 a.m. at The Hive
Exciting as the carnival-like sounds of Man Man and their keyboard-pounding frontman Honus Honus are in their recorded forms, they are far eclipsed by the reputation for the bizarre antics of their live shows.

Saturday
Astronautalis
3 p.m. at Main Stage Two
The highlight of most Astronautalis sets has to be the point where the emcee takes several suggestions of topics from audience members and then weaves them into a geniusly crafted freestyle just moments later. But even his scripted songs hit hard.

The Cannabinoids with Sarah Jaffe
6 p.m. at Main Stage One
Several months ago, The Cannabinoids released a remix of “Glorified High,” the lead single off of Sarah Jaffe's most recent album, The Body Wins. At 35 Denton, the parties are taking things a step further with a special one-off live collabo set, with Jaffe sitting in where fellow local femme fatale Erykah Badu normally stands.

Killer Mike
7 p.m. at Main Stage Two
Released on last year's R.A.P. Music, “Reagan” wasn't just a career-defining track for Killer Mike, it was without a doubt the realest track anyone's released in the past decade. Period. We'll pretty much stop dead in our tracks if he drops this one on Saturday.

Solange
8 p.m. at Main Stage One
Is the other Ms. Knowles really a big enough name to headline this entire festival? Tough to say, but there definitely is something endearing about her futuristic R&B and retro soul offerings.

Vulgar Fashion
10:30 p.m. at Hailey's
Like fellow synth-based duo Pinkish Black, this Denton goth wave act has been getting a fair share of attention of late from sites like Pitchfork, and, more recently, Gorilla vs Bear. Find out why at this show, and grab a copy of their debut release for Handmade Birds Records before it's released, too.

Com Truise
12:30 a.m. at The Hive
The most hard-hitting of the synth-obsessed Seth Haley's many pseudonyms, Com Truise caps off another dance-focused night at The Hive.

The Soft Moon
12:30 a.m. at Hailey's
There's a hypnotizing quality to The Soft Moon's electro-fueled post-punk albums, but the band that the project's mastermind, Luis Vasquez, has assembled to pull off in live settings should provide a much more full sensory experience.

OBN III's
12:30 a.m. at The Labb
Sure, Orville Bateman Neeley III has spent time performing with Bad Sports and The Strange Boys in the past. But his latest project is a straightforward attempt to save rock 'n roll. The fact that said revolution might just start out in a garage is secondary.

Acid Baby Jesus
12:30 a.m. at Mellow Mushroom
Is it possible that a distorto-pop band from Greece playing in a pizza shop just might be the single best act at this year's festival? Oh, Denton.

Sunday
Beach Fossils
3 p.m. at Main Stage Two
While Beach Fossils' fuzzed-out offerings are straightforward enough to be enjoyed during an early, hangover-filled Sunday afternoon, there's still enough punk at this band's core to prep audiences for another long day of festing.

Reigning Sound
5 p.m. at Main Stage Two
Whether or not you're wholly familiar with their catalog, you can find some solace simply from the fact that Reigning Sound's probably your favorite garage-punk band's favorite garage-punk band.

Thee Oh Sees
6 p.m. at Main Stage One
While dozens of lo-fi bands have come out of the San Francisco beach pop scene in the past several years, few have fared better than scene vets Thee Oh Sees, who return to the fest this year after offering up one of the most high-energy sets at last year's fest.

Chelsea Light Moving
8 p.m. at Main Stage One
The best description we've heard of Thurston Moore's new Chelsea Light Moving project comes from LA Times critic August Brown, who described the band as sounding like “high-minded musicians doing some dumb, brawny lifting.”

Delicate Steve
9:30 p.m. at The Hive
Never has a fake press release gotten a band so far. But, hey, so what if Delicate Steve doesn't actually sound “like My Bloody Valentine minus the guitars,” as Chuck Klosterman once penned in jest for the band's bio. Steve Marion is still a guitar wizard with countless influences.

Mac Demarco
10:30 p.m. at The Hive
Mac Demarco's Sunday night slacker rock set provides the perfect opportunity for everyone that's curious about The Hive's dramatic offering, but isn't all that into dancing.

Talk Normal
11:30 p.m. at Andy's
Heavy atmosphere and No Wave-era sonic experimentation are abundant in this Brooklyn noise-rock duo's challenging sound.

Coathangers
11:30 p.m. at Dan's Silverleaf
Because some good ol' fashioned, tongue-in-cheek party rock is exactly what you will need to make it through this festival's home stretch.

Silver Apples
12:30 a.m. at Hailey's
It's really a marvel to think just how far ahead of their time electronic pioneers Silver Apples were in the late '60s — or just how many bands playing the festival this year wouldn't be where they are had the Apples never started experimenting with audio oscillators in the first place.

White Lung
12:30 a.m. at The Labb
Interestingly enough, Vancouver's White Lung have forged a sound that takes images of classic punk albums and filters them through a lens just as sonically interesting as that of their countrymen, Japandroids.

The Ruby Suns
12:30 a.m. at Mellow Mushroom
Over the course of the band's four albums, the Ruby Suns' sound has shifted from psych-tinged indie pop to post chill-wave electro-pop.

Marnie Stern
12:30 a.m. at Dan's Silverleaf
The best guitarist playing this year's fest, Stern's has always been a shredder. But her new stuff is even more aggressive than ever.